It is well known to provide coin guiding devices for controlling the movement of coins along a coin path so as to render this movement more stable. This is particularly valuable in coin validators, wherein the measurement of the coin properties may be influenced if the coin's movement is erratic. Such devices, sometimes known as "snubbers", may take either an active or a passive form. In the passive form, the snubber may for example be made of hard material, and disposed so that a coin inserted into a validator impacts the snubber which thus absorbs much of the coin's energy so that the subsequent flight of the coin is fairly stable. An active snubber may take the form of a lever extending across the coin path, so that the engagement of the coin with the lever causes the lever to move cut of the path of the coin, thus again absorbing some energy from the coin and causing its subsequent movement to become more stable.
Such devices can be quite important, particularly in validators which are designed to be used with coins having a large size variation. In such validators, controlling the movement of small coins along paths which can accommodate large coins is difficult. Also, in view of the increasing tendency to make smaller validators, the distance between the point of entry of the coin and the testing section is becoming smaller, and therefore it is becoming more difficult to ensure that the coin's movement is stable before it reaches the testing section. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a coin guiding device which ensures that coins adopt more reliably a consistent flight path.